Homework

With the Howard County Board of Education Primary Election fast approaching, I decided to refocus from a one-on-one verbal question and answer session to a written homework assignment.

Here are the rules:

1) Only the 11 current Board of Education candidates can respond to these questions.
2) The responses are due by 8 pm Eastern, March 14, 2016.
3) The answers should be emailed to: jasonabooms@gmail.com.
4) I reserve the right to quote, and attribute, your responses as part of a future blog post.

Here are the questions:

1) Thought experiment. Much is made of the Board of Education acting as a collaborative body, but it is one comprised of unique individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, and talents.  With that in mind...

What if you can replace, immediately, all of the other board members with clones of yourself.  Assuming you can work collaboratively with your other selves, what specifically would you want to accomplish in the next two years? In the next four?

2a) If you are an incumbent:  Why should we trust you with another four year term?

2b) If you are a challenger:  Why should we trust you with a four year term?

3) What is the single biggest dysfunction impacting the Board and how can it be resolved over the course of the next four years?

4) The HCPSS lists , among a set of “guiding principles,” the following:

“Fostering a culture of collaboration, trust, and shared responsibility” (source: http://www.hcpss.org/about-us/)

Thinking about the past four years, Please provide one example of how the Board advanced that principle and one example of how the Board acted in a manner that ran counter to that principle.  Please elaborate on both examples.

I look forward to receiving your responses.  

Stay tuned, as more will follow.